The Little Things
by Penna-de-Astore
Summary: Alise Shepard was always taught to appreciate the small things in life, and that seems to be the one thing that keeps her going. See as she grows from a scared teenager to the commander she grows up to be, it is the little things in life that makes a person who they are. Pre. ME1 - ME
1. N7 Navy File

Alliance Navy N7 file-

Name: Alise Shepard

Age: 32 (KIA for 2 years)

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 150 lbs (68.04 Kilos)

Hair color: Red/Auburn

Eye color: Green

D.O.B: April 11, 2154

Service Number: 5923-AC-2826

Pre-Service History: Colonist

Psychological Profile: Sole Survivor

Class: Infiltrator


	2. Colony Life

**Penna:**** Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to post the first short, I just had tons of trouble finding a beta/editor and finally I got a break when HBound offered to do it! **

**HBHound****: Sup bitches, I'm penna's new editor and I write, fix, and scratch my wenis at the same damn time**

**Penna:**** *face palm* PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTT! HB, thanks for joining us. Any ways, sorry for the wait and here is the first of many shorts to come. Please read and review!**

**DISCLIAMER: Mass Effect and all of its characters belong to Bioware!**

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Colony life on Mindior rocked, if you lived at the right distance. The trip to the beach was only a ten minute walk or a five minute ride on retrofitted ATV four wheelers. Once homework and chores were done, teenage friends would gather in front of the Shepard house to load up the ATVs with surf boards and food for the trip.

This time was a bit different, usually for relaxation the trip to the coast was for a school project on the environment of the planet.  
"Alise, be home before sundown! And be careful on the trails, Jones said that there a couple of Varren running around!" Jeannette Shepard's voice called from the open kitchen window as her red haired daughter hurried to strap her surfboard and her group's school issued environment scanners to the ATV's as the boys snickered at Alise. A sharp glare from her piercing green eyes stopped the sounds they were making but the expressions stayed.

"Don't worry mom, I'll be careful. Bye love you!" Alise called as she placed herself on one of the ATVs and brought the engine to life. Randy followed suit as he and Jarred sat on the other ATV while Matt slipped in behind her, Revving the engine a bit Alise took of the main road before turning down the dirt road to "The Office".

The office was a cove that took some exploring to find, but the sixteen year old Alise, her friends, and some of the young adults found the cove which produced some of the harshest yet the most exhilarating waves a young surfer could ride. And the way that the cove had earned its name was for the waves that made you angry as fuck and happy as hell when you do it right.

The ATVs' suspensions bounced up and down as Alise guided the 21st century vehicle down another path, slowing it down as dirt turned into the smooth stone. Skidding to a smooth stop, Alise nudged Matt off before sliding off herself. Randy appeared from the bend and brought his vehicle to a stop before shoving Jarred off. The two boys began a scuffle as Matt unloaded the science equipment from the boy's ATV, looking at Alise for advice.

Rolling her eyes, she circled the mass of flying fists before diving into the fight and kicking the two brothers apart.  
"Alise! What the fuck? can't two brothers beat the shit out of each other in peace?" Jarred exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. Randy snickered at his older brother as Alise glared at him and rolled to her feet.

"Not when we have a project that's due tomorrow! Come on you two, we get the nutrients readings from the water and we can have plenty of time to dick around. Get your asses into gear and move!" Alise flipped her red hair from her shoulder and marched over to her now unloaded surf board to get ready for her part of the project.

Since she was the most experienced surfer of this group, it was going to be her job to get the waterproofed sensors past the sand bars and lower the device a good twenty feet under water while watching the waves. The three boys shrugged at her and went on with their side of the project, making sure to shove each other around in a joking manner.

Rolling her eyes at their antics, Alise Shepard removed her shirt and her shorts to show her sporty two piece swim suit and very tan skin. Due to her activities outdoors and at the beach, the young Shepard had very dark skin and freckles along her face, shoulders, arms and back that seemed that someone had hit her with a balloon full of glitter.

Randy whistled at Alise before dodging a heavy hiking boot thrown in his direction; Matt and Jarred laughed at the punk wanna be and finished setting up the receiver. "You're good to go Alise." Matt assured, Alise nodded and took her board to the water with the sensor in hand and began paddling out.  
Alise shivered as she emerged from the back of the wave.

Seeing no reason to fight the giant waves, the girl would push the nose of the board down so she would slip through the water and continue out to the sand bars until she was a good twenty feet from the cove walls. Signaling that she was okay, Alise balanced her board on the rolling ocean and began to lower the sensor in the great alien blue with one hand and moved her bangs from her face.

Once the wire ran out, Alise waved to the shore to signal to start the readings; the boys signaled back and crouched over the small monitor. After a few minutes, Alise heard some curses, shouts and splashes coming near her; turning her head to the source of the noise, the sixteen year old spotted Matt trying to stay afloat on his own board and maneuver to where she was floating.

"Matt you okay?" She snickered as her school partner finally gained balance with the calm waves.

"Yeah! Just fine, you? Enjoying the big blue?" The blonde teen grinned, trying to be smooth with her. Alise saw right through him and snorted, and instead of looking away from him she looked him dead in the eye.

"Yeah I am, it's good to have friends to enjoy it with. Even though what we are doing is for a school project." She moved her wet Auburn hair from where it hung from her shoulders and to her back as she saw the brothers back on shore wave frantically to signal the end of the scan.

"Just friends?" Matt grinned; Alise gagged internally and was immediately wishing for Jarred to be with her. She could at least tolerate his forward gestures because he was joking one hundred percent of the time, but Matt was a guy from her high school who was previously a spacer kid before his dad retired from the Alliance. Alise took the sensor and its wire and began coiling it up.

"Because with my moves, I'm pretty sure that you'll want to be more than friends." Matt gleamed, giving her his best "charming" smile. Alise audibly scoffed and turned her surf board with ease to shore.  
"Gain some moves with the waves first, then you can charm Cathy with your 'moves'" Alise air quoted, then began paddling with the next swell.

"This girl needs a specialist not a green horn." Alise cackled behind her as the swell turned into a wave. Gripping the wire and looping it on one arm, Alise expertly stood on her board and rode the wave as it seemed to lift her to shore. Matt's curses were drowned out by the planet's natural roars and groans as the pristine waters slammed into the cliffs forming the cove and rolled onto the rocky shore.

Jarred and Randy both noticed the glee glowing from Alise as she skipped to where they were with her blue and silver board in one hand and their sensor in the other. It only took brief eye contact and a nod for the message to be exchanged.

"Cock blocked", a congratulatory high five sounded in the air as Matt slammed onto the shore as if the ocean had spat him out of the water. Snickers grew into outright laughter as the young man plucked sea debris from his perfect hair and "smexy" mouth with major disgust.

Glaring at Alise for the rejection, Matt sat next to Randy while Jarred and Alise placed their equipment away and unloaded the other surfboard for Jarred. (Matt had borrowed Randy's white and yellow board.)  
Not even asking, both Jarred and Alise raced back to the shore and jumped into the frigid water and began swimming to meet the swells. Randy soon followed, leaving Matt on shore to watch the "pros" in action; getting to the swells took a lot more work than usual.

It was unusually very windy that day, so the waves came in at a faster and harsher rate, but the three teens manage to get to the sweet spot and began cheering each other on as one would catch a wave and glide on top of the water's surface. Randy had even managed enter a tube before the wave crashed on top of him and caused him to float back to shore bruised.

After Randy made it back to shore, both Alise and Jarred noticed that Matt had left on foot and that the sun was going down. Nodding to each other, they both rode the next wave into the cove and crisscrossed each other without hitting each other. Alise managed to wipe out at the last second while Jarred floated on the foaming water.

Laughing at her, the brothers took Alise's board and strapped it to one of the ATV's. Standing in between them, the red head slung both arms over their shoulders and squeezed them; both boys grinned their devilish grins and hugged the girl back with crushing force before letting her go. Looking to the sky, the three of them smiled and looked at each other.

"Think about it, two more years and we'll be joining the Alliance and traveling the stars for untold adventures." Randy whooped as he spread his arms out with enthusiasm, while younger brother and Alise rolled their eyes.

"Well the adventures will have to wait till after basic, come on you too. Let's head back, Mama Shep was cooking pizza before we left." Jarred laughed as he and his brother sat on their ATV while Alise climbed on to hers. Bringing both machines to life and driving back into the forest, the three of them didn't hear the roar of ship engines over the roar of the ocean.

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** Thanks for reading, please review!**


	3. Before the Plunge

**HBHound: This Xbox e3 conference worse than last years. That Kinect and that**

**whack ass usher can kiss my ass.**

**Penna: xD HB you always make my day. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: MASS EFFECT and its universe dosen't belong to me…its BIOWARE'S!**

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The orange glow was really starting to irritate Alise's green eyes, and at the age of eighteen, she really shouldn't be staring at the console for a long time just to figure one stupid math equation.

It was ridiculous, Alise could perform college level algebra with ease, but this low level calculus was officially kicking her ass from one side of Arcturus station to the other. Sighed for the uptenth time and rubbing her tired eyes, Shepard stole a quick glance at her console to see the time….it was only eight pm planet side.

Groaning in frustration, Alise saved her work and shut off the console that she

had been staring at for the past three hours.

After the attack on Mindoir, Alise was taken from station to station by the Alliance until they found her a rush college course for her to go through and stay at until she reached the age of eighteen. The Alliance and other support groups paid for her minimal expenses (really, she didn't sign up for anything too expensive) with large amounts of money since she was the poor colony kid who survived the batarian attack by sheer luck. The teenager wanted to throw a five pound brick at these people- well not the Alliance guys because they could sympathize with her pain- for their constant pitying and babying her all of the time. But she was thankful for the money to get her through the fast paced college; it would guarantee her a chance to join the Alliance with some tech skills that she was learning at the junior college.

Her roommate on the other hand, Cassie, didn't treat her with the same pitying care that many other people did. Well she did, with her own way for a week before treating Alise Shepard like a real person. Cassie was from Texas and her southern personality made Alise felt welcome and at home when Cassie wasn't trying to get Alise out to the bar and party. Cassie was twenty one and liked to go out and hang with her friends, and the southern girl really wanted to help Alise socialize more, but she also want the red head to watch over her and her buddies as they danced the night away.

Now Alise really didn't mind at all, but after a really awkward situation with an Asari that put off Alise from dance clubs. The teen wasn't a xenophobe, quite the opposite she actually preferred to hang out with the few aliens on the human station than the humans, but after being hit on severely at the club, she had been avoiding the place like the plague for weeks.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Alise flipped her console back on and pulled up one of the classic Earth video games she had gotten a hold of from her mother's research data on human teenage culture during the beginning of the 21st century. As the game loaded and began the opening cut scene Alise slightly noticed the ruckus the was coming outside of her dorm apartment, looking slightly when the door open, Alise watched as Cassie and three of her friends came crashing in with shopping bags filled with new clothes.

Raising her eyebrow at her roommate, Alise chuckled before going back to her game to relax. Cassie saw the red head sitting at her console where she had left her before and frowned, setting her bags down in her room Cassie motioned for her friends to get ready before plopping herself on top of Alise.

"C-Cassie, you're crushing me!" Alise gasped in surprise as she tried to push herself up from her desk.

"Lisey, what did I say about working yourself over time!" The woman demanded, she smiled brightly even though she knew the colony teen wouldn't be able to see it. Untying her long black hair from its pony tail, she ran her long pale fingers through it as she waited for an answer.

"I have a test tomorrow in my math class, I need to study! I only stopped to relax my brain, my last final is tomorrow!" Alise squealed as Cassie squished her more onto her desk. Laughing at her reactions Cassie moved so that she was looming over the younger teen and she could look her in the face.

"And we are both going to go to Alliance recruiting the next day, come on girle. Just come with us to Eternity for a few hours before we sign our lives away for the greater good. I'll even help you on your work while we are there; you need to pull that stick out of your ass." Cassie pouted, Alise glared into Cassie's grey eyes before sighing.

"Fine, just get your ass off of me."

"Good, now get your ass ready while me and my fine ass go get ready as well." Cassie jumped up and frolicked to her room to change. Rubbing her ribs, Alise shut off her console again and went to her room to change.

Opting to wear a pair of dark wash jeans, black combat boots, and an Italian soccer shirt with a beer logo on the back, Alise tied her hair up in a high pony tail and putting on a small amount of make up before grabbing a satchel and her credit chit.

Giggles and squeals were coming from the other room as Alise placed her data pad and a tablet pen in her bag while she waited for the older girls to get out of the room.

Making sure that her homework and study guide were on the data pad and on her omni-tool, the colony teen looked up when she heard Cassie's door open. Three very beautiful young women stepped out of the small room, all dolled up and wearing their new club wear that made Alise happy that she talked the southern girl out of assisting her with her clothes shopping.

The two other girls looked a bit taken back at the younger girl's attire. Alise just shrugged.

"I'll chase away drunken idiots with the mommy look." The teen smiled, Cassie let loose some laughter with a snort. Since the two girls lived together Cassie had learned about Alise's sense of dry humor, but most people didn't like her sarcasm or her dry humor. Rolling their eyes, Cassie's friends grabbed their clutch purses and sashayed their way out the door. The roommates looked at each other, stifling their laughs as they locked their room and walked down the hallway after the two women to the club.

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Alise decided that she now hated club music, well maybe this club's music, but overall it was just giving her a major headache. The pulsing beat and annoying melody that blared above that, the only nice thing about this was the light show that encased the dance floor.

Being extremely bored, Alise tapped away at her data pad, focusing on her math work as her companions danced the night away with a couple of good looking men and a few asari. Drinks were defiantly flowing, eight shot glasses were scattered on the table with a few full sized glasses standing near the clutch purses-all of them empty or half full.

Sighing at the sight, Alise chewed lightly on her tablet pen as she glared at her math work. She couldn't tell what exactly was wrong, but something in her calculations wasn't adding up at all and it was defiantly driving her up the wall. The teen was so engrossed in her work she didn't notice the drunk man walking up to her.

"Whaaatz a pretty girl like chuu working at dis club?" Alise looked up from her data pad, moving her feet from the table to sit up straight, she rose her eye brow in question at the man. He was defiantly drunk, seeing the Asari cocktail in danger of being spilt onto the floor; but he was clearly intent on getting some action and apparently Alise seemed to be the easiest choice tonight.

Giving his best "charming smile" as he attempted to be cool and lean on the table with one arm. "I mean with your looks you could tie anybody around your finger." Alise looked past the man and saw that Cassie was looking concerned and was waving for the bouncer or something; Alise shook her head, signaling that the situation was under control.

"Really…"

"Sure sweet thing, I c-could show you the best places on the station; and the best moves I could do for you." The guy leaned in closer to Alise, causing her to lean back.

She could smell the alcohol coming off in waves, wrinkling her nose in disgust Alise glared at the guy and balled her free hand into a fist. Just as she was about to let the guy have it, a three taloned hand grabbed the guy by the scruff of his shirt and plucked him off the table with little effort at all.

The drunkard started to freak out at the loss of control of his body and tried to swipe at the alien behind him. The Turian, a very tall and built Turian who was obviously annoyed, glared at the guy with Amber eyes and tossed the idiot drunk towards the door.

The drunk tumbled towards the entrance of the door and reared back to hit the alien, but stopped when he finally gauged on how big the alien was, especially in armor that was growling at him. Looking to Alise, who was doing her best not to burst out laughing, the man let out a string of curses and walked back to the entrance of the club dejected and embarrassed. Peering up at her savoir, Alise sat up a bit straighter and addressed him.

"Thanks for that, I was preparing to slug him." The Turian turned his attention to the female human and quizzically tipped his head at what she said. Lifting her fist up to show him, Alise explained. " 'Slug' is human slang for punching."

"I've heard it before and had some small idea to what it was, but at least I know what it is. You okay? He didn't touch you did he?" The Turian walked up next to her to get a better look at the young human in the dim club light.

"No, he just got into my personal bubble and 'attempted' at some really pathetic smooth talk." Alise rolled her eyes at the thought that the drunk thought he knew how to sweet talk a girl. The hulking alien chuckled, his dual voice resonating and making Alise grin. She didn't know what it was about Turians and their voices, but they made her feel calm and content; she had always thought that they were very calming.

"You don't look like the type to hang out at a joint like this." That snapped Alise out of her train of thought. She looked at the turian and then down at herself, grinning Alise grinned and pointed to her clothes.

"I'm the designated mommy figure tonight, I'm supposed to watch the other girls' things and make sure they don't disappear with heroic aliens. What else gave it away?"

"Well, I promise I won't whisk one of your friends away, but I noticed your data pad. Why work on higher mathematics while you're at a club? You look like you're ready to chuck that tiny piece of hardware out the nearest airlock." Shepard was glad that her new "friend" got her joke and wasn't offended at all, with the whole first contact war and such, but was actually surprised when he noticed that it was math.

"Need some help, because I'm worried for that data pad in your hand."

"You can do higher mathematics and calculus? Because you look like the type of guy who can rip a varren in two with no problem." Alise motioned for the seat next to her and gladly passed the data pad to him after he settled himself in his chair. And by god did this guy dwarfed her, Alise was about 5'10" and was still growing slowly, and she had seen other Turians before and this guy was still huge.

"I may not look it, but I was a fighter pilot in the Turian fleet along with being a mechanic. But now I'm bit of a freelancing merc, I'm Vertac."

"I'm Alise Shepard. I'm actually going to try to join the military in a couple of days." Alise watched as Vertac tapped at her data pad, he flared his mandibles a bit in an amusing notion and passed the pad back to her.

"What exactly did I do wrong?"

"You see that number there?"

"Yeah, 5642. What about it?"

"Everything before that number is correct, you just mixed up the digits. Look at it again." Alise did, with Vertac peering over her shoulder. Alise squinted at that number, trying to see what she did wrong.

"What….WHAT!" Alise saw that she had switched up the digits in the previous step. Clearly aggravated, Alise slammed the data pad into her forehead as she growled in anger. Vertac chuckled at Alise and patted her on the shoulder as she placed her head on the table to dramatically sob.

"There there, Vertac is just better at math than you. Plus you don't look like the engineer type any ways." Alise looked up from her arms with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you see me as then?" The Turian made a soft humming noise that Alise picked up even with the pounding music. Being very calming she closed her eyes and waited for her new friend to answer her.

"You seem the sniper sort." Vertac grinned, the only way a Turian really could grin.

"You think I have a god complex?" Alise asked, she had heard what a lot of civilians- even alliance soldiers thought on infiltrators- they were not pretty.

"No, I think that you have this thing about protecting your comrades. You didn't want to come here in the first place, but you came here to keep them safe from creeps at your own risk. I had a friend who is an infiltrator; she saw to it that it was her job to make sure we all made it all alive in hostile situations if it even came close to costing her life." Alise Shepard quizzical look turned into a smile as the turian went on.

That made her think about her career, she was planning to just sign up as a solider or an engineer; but after hearing Vertac's spiel, it made her choice all the much easier.

"Hey Lisey, who's your new friend?" Shepard looked up to see Cassie nursing what seemed to be either water or vodka. Alise sat up strait and introduced the two.

"Cassie this is Vertac, Vertac this is my roommate and friend Cassie." The older female human stuck her hand out to shake, which Vertac took and shook.

"Good to see our little friend here is not causing any trouble. Alise, we're going to leave in an hour, you down?" Vertac cocked his head at the slang.

"I'm down, just grab me another soda and I'll behave." Cassie slapped Alise's shoulder lightly as she walked to the bar to get Shepard's drink. Vertac lifted an eye ridge at his new human friend and all Alise could say was that it was a "human thing". Cassie returned with the soda and floated off to the dance floor as soon as the glass was levitated from her hands.

Shepard snickered to herself while she took a sip, an Asari dancer had slinked up to Cassie and began "dancing" with each other.

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For the rest of the night, Vertac and Alise sat at that table chatting about anything they could. It actually took three more hours until Cassie and her friends stumbled to their table drunk beyond belief.

Not even waiting for a request, Vertac looped Cassie's left arm over his cowl while Alise and the asari dancer (now dressed in civilian clothes) handled the other girls and their purses.

Alise lead the two aliens to Cassie's friend's apartment before making the long trek to Alise's dorm/apartment. Yani, the asari, eventually left to her own home, not before giving her contact information to Alise for Cassie; Cassie babbled in a drunken slur about math terms as Yani left to her home.

When the trio finally reached Alise's apartment, Cassie was passed out and now on Alise's shoulder as the turian opened the door for the two girls. When Alise placed her roommate down on her side to sleep, she grabbed a glass of purified water for Vertac as he checked out the room.

"This is a nice place, bet you're going to miss it once you're in the alliance. Your own bedroom, your own shower; it's all going to be gone once you sign your life away. I bet your family would be proud." Vertac commented. He wandered over to Alise's desk and picked up a holo with a photo of her family and friends on Mindoir, before the raid.

A somber look came over his face, looking over at Alise, he noticed that the small human girl looked away from him and on some random speck on the ceiling. Sighing, Vertac remembered something one of his work partners had told him. The disgruntled old man had said that human females liked to have contact when they were upset. Placing his glass down, he walked over to the red head but stopped when she spoke.

"I just want to protect people, so that they don't have to go through what I did. I'm willing to give up the luxuries in my life to make things better for others, and I really do hope that I can do my family proud. You understand that right?"Alise smiled up at the turian and exhaled deeply to prevent herself from breaking down.

Doing what he thought that would count, Vertac wrapped his long lanky arms around the slim woman and enveloped her body with his. The human froze for a second before snuggling into the crook of his shoulder, and even with his hard armor, she was able to mold her softer body into his.

After a while, Alise began to giggle uncontrollably as Vertac squeezed her body into his in a slight jerk. "You humans are squishy, I knew you guys were soft and pink, but not this squishy." He unwrapped himself from Alise and ruffled her hair, causing her to go into another fit of giggles.

Vertac gave a turian smile, flaring out his mandibles and showing off his sharp teeth. It was so awkward that Alise couldn't help but begin laughing her ass off. Chuckling at the young girl, Vertac tapped at his omni-tool and flaring Alise's up.

Alise looked at her omni-tool to see new contact information; she looked up at the turian with surprised green eyes.

"Give me a call when you're out of boot camp, drinks are going to be on me." And with that he waved at Alise like a gentleman would, making her giggle again(this turian knew how to make a girl feel great about themselves), and left through the front door.

Walking to her desk, Alise picked up the holo of her with her parents on Mindoir at the cove she used to surf at. Her smile turned into a somber one, but this time she didn't break down crying, this time she kissed the holo and placed it back on the desk.

Making one quick check on Cassie, Alise slipped into her bedroom, changed into her pajamas, and slipped into bed and slept to the sound of a rolling ocean.

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**HBHound: one word: Jailbait**

**Penna: Jailbait? Wha-what do you mean by that?**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

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**My thanks to:**

**M- Angel 05: Hell YEAH it's Mindior! Thanks for reading this Angel, this means a lot that I can finally do this since I have the "free time" Here ya go and I hope the next chapter will pull you in even more!**

**Wenis Smacker: Uuuuuuh….Thanks! I do appreciate that you took time to read this even though this isn't the sort of thing that you would read. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


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